Hard to find technical info on HID headlights for 2015 Buick Enclave

Hi All,

As you may have noticed, I've been asking random drive by headlight questions over the last year as we have been shopping for a second vehicle. We finally pulled the trigger on a 2015 Buick Enclave Premium. We wanted about 5k towing capacity and something great for roadtrips and this vehicle certainly has that combination.

The vehicle is equipped with OEM HID headlights with LED DRLs. I'm very hopeful they are a well designed OEM headlamp, since there is likely little I can do to improve it. I believe there is an extreme vision model of the D3S HID bulb for when its time to replace them.

My main question is about setting aim on these units. All of the sales literature and such indicates standard articulating headlamps, and sure enough they steer through corners like champs.

What I have not been able to find stated anywhere is whether they are also auto-leveling. All of the sales data only states the word "articulating" which I believe refers strictly to the left and right movement.

I consulted the owners manual and this is all it says: "Headlamp Aiming: Headlamp aim has been preset and should need no further adjustment. If the vehicle is damaged in a crash,the headlamp aim may be affected. If adjustment to the headlamps is necessary, see your dealer."

This implies strongly that the headlight aim doesnt need to be adjusted, but thats a pretty bold statement no? Is it because they are auto leveling, or just because they were aimed at the dealer and the Enclave barely seems to suffer any squat under load?

Any comments or suggestions would be welcomed.

Dave in Calgary

There is no such thing (yet, on a production car) as self-aiming headlamps. The leveling system your car almost certainly does not have can't find and set the correct aim, it can only maintain whatever baseline aim setting has been applied. That thing about the headlamp aim being correct at the factory is a laugh riot. One of the very valid findings of the IIHS tests is that headlamp aim from the factory has been sloppy, at best, for a long time. Find a shop equipped, able, and willing to use an optical aiming machine (the only way to check and adjust the aim properly...any kind of "shine it on a wall/screen" method is not worth paying for), as described in this document.